A Year of Blessing-February

February-We made the big move to NC the first Friday of February and were so blessed to have Aron's parents drive up with us and stay for a day to help. As we got closer to our new home, we called our new landlords to let them know so they could meet us at the house to give us the key and so we could pay them for our first month of rent. The first official North Carolina blessing of February....they stayed to help us move in! Can you believe that? And they didn't just move a couple boxes, they moved the piano, beds, and tons of other stuff. Wow!



The next day, Aron and I headed out mattress shopping while Aron's parents stayed with the kids and also unpacked a bunch of stuff for us. See, the last time we'd bought a mattress was right when we got married, which had been almost 8 years before, and since we were a young poor couple, we bought what we could afford which was a king-size $200 mattress. If you know anything about mattresses you'll understand the quality that was very lacking in that thing! And to make matters worse, when we first got it (about 2 weeks after we were married...yeah, we slept on the floor for a week after our honeymoon, but we didn't care!), we had to get it up to the second floor of our condo and the stairwell was too short, causing us to have to bend it to get upstairs, which then caused it to have a permanent lump in the middle. Well, we decided that it had definitely seen it's better days, so it is now living in the dump in Florida and so we had to go get a new one. Long story short, after a couple hours of searching, we were greatly blessed to find a good, quality name-brand, pillowtop mattress, boxspring and frame included, for right at $300! Now we downsized to a queen, but after several hours of looking, we realized we'd been given quite a deal and were really excited to spend the night sleeping on that thing!



Aron's parents left on Sunday and drove the trailer back....oh yeah, another blessing; almost forgot about that one! Real quick, a member of the church we'd been going to in FL had allowed us to use his huge, covered trailer to bring the rest of our stuff to NC so we didn't need to rent a truck! Ok, so the weekend was over and we were mostly settled in....we've now moved 9 times in our 8 years of marriage, so we're pretty good at it!...and then starting that first Monday, we were brought meals from members of Discovery Church for a week! Huge blessing!!! These were people who we didn't even know who were providing for us so that we didn't have to worry about cooking and could focus on unpacking. Another wow!



Well, since we were both unemployed, Aron started the job hunt while I focused on homeschooling. He applied to several places and was in the waiting game. Meanwhile, I was finishing Nathan's kindergarten year and Caleb's preschool year and taking time learning the area. On one particularly nice day I took the kids to a local park to have a picnic lunch and to play. While there, I met this very nice lady who was there with 2 little children she was watching for the day so the mom, who was very sick, could rest. Well, I'm not usually the most outgoing person and have a hard time keeping a conversation going especially with people I don't know. But that didn't happen and she seemed to seek me out, even sort of following me and my kids around but not in a creepy way.



Anyway, we finally got around to talking about why we'd moved and I told her about Aron's ministry and how he has a calling to reach out to dads and their sons. She was so impressed and totally agreed with everything I explained to her and she told me about her husband who was very involved in a local ministry that reaches out to boys who have no father influence. She told me her husband was a judge and that he sees boys every day whom he believed if the father had done what he was supposed to do, the life of that boy would be drastically different. She was so encouraged by what Aron ministry was about that she asked for his number and told me she was going to tell her husband about him. I gave her his number and when we got home I told Aron about this "chance" meeting and how neat it was; however, we both agreed that it was hightly unlikely that he'd ever call. Boy were we shocked when at about 9:45 that night the Judge called! Aron talked with him for about 15 minutes and he ended the conversation agreeing to meet him the next day for coffee! Through the judge Aron was able to connect with a local ministry reaching out to the fatherless boys of the innercity. It is in the plans for KingMaker Ministry this year to sponsor several of these boys and their mentors and take them to the mountains for their "Rite of Passage" experience. How awesome is that?!

As Aron continued waiting for a job to come through, he started volunteering his "man power" to help a newly developed local camp get some of their facilities fixed up. Aron told the director what his ministry was about and he was offered the use of the facilities whenever Aron needed them. So cool! Since then, Aron now leads a men's Bible Study there on Thursday mornings and another HUGE blessing was given to us from them....but that story's yet to come!

A Year of Blessing-January

Being that it's now a new year, I've been reviewing the past year and trying to remember all the ways God came through for us last year. Lest I forget, recall with me (over the next several posts) as I look back at 2009:

January-We drove to NC to bring half of our things since we knew we'd be moving here in February, but had nowhere yet to live. We got a storage unit for our stuff and while "on vacation" here for a week, looked for a place to rent. Now remember, I had been working in FL, but neither Aron nor I had gotten a job yet in NC, so finding someone who'd rent to us with no income, other than the $600 a month we'd raised in support, was sure to be difficult.

Jason, our pastor here, asked the congregation to keep their ears open for jobs/houses for us, and a couple came up to us after church that Sunday. They let us know they had a house to sell and would love for us to come look at it, but I assured them we were in no place to buy anything. They still wanted us to come look so we agreed to meet them there that evening. We really liked the house (it was built in 1900 so it has lots of character) but it was really big, over 2300 sq.ft. and the places we had been looking at in the $700 price range which was all we'd be able to afford (we were believing Aron would get a job very soon) were small duplexes or townhouses, so we were sure this house was not going to be our new home. When we told the owners that we couldn't afford more than $700 a month, they countered us with, get this, "How about $650?"

What?! They went DOWN in the price?! Who does that? Why? But we believe that God had it already planned out. We knew that He was leading us to Greenville, NC and that although it didn't look possible, He was going to provide what we needed. And He definitely didn't disappoint! "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

Well, we went back to FL to finish out the month. I was teaching at Summerfield Elementary and was concerned about my replacement being found before we moved the first week of February. I was so excited about moving but was sad to think my class of 3rd graders would be left without a suitable teacher. I really didn't want a sub in there, but I also knew that there wasn't much of a chance that a teacher would be found in the middle of the school year. Then came God, weaving the story of our lives. It just so happened (yeah right!) that there was a teacher who had moved away the year before for her husband's job change had moved back to the area and had called Summerfield to see if there were any available jobs. The crazier thing was that all the "stuff" that was in my classroom when I got the job at the beginning of that school year was all from her last classroom! She was hired and was even able to come in for a couple days before I left so that she could meet the kids and they could get to know her a little while I was still there. I was so thankful that a good, qualified teacher would be finishing out the year with my students. Again, an unbelieveable answer!

I am so humbled by recalling just the first month of 2009. Wow, it's still hard to believe how God came through for us! What an awesome God we serve! Stay tuned for more....

Christmas 2009

This was our first Christmas away from family, which at first didn't sound too bad. Not that we didn't want to be with them, but we thought that so many other people spend their Christmases that way, so we figured we could handle it too. And first thing in the morning, we were fine. But as the day wore on, we definitely realized it was kinda sad to not be able to spend the day with all of our loved ones. It really sunk in when we called Aron's mom and heard all the people in the background talking and laughing together....sigh. But, we made the day our own and I'm grateful to have been able to spend the day with my awesome husband and kids.

Here are our traditional "Christmas Eve" pajamas....that's been our tradition, to each open one gift on Christmas Eve which are a somewhat matching set of pajamas. This year I decided to make all of us girls matching pajama pants and the boys matching ones, Dora for us girls and Transformers for the boys. It was a nice idea, but because I was trying to keep them a secret, there were no "fittings" and so they don't fit quite the way they should. Yeah, I'll be buying them next year!

Waiting to open presents Christmas morning.

Libbie with her new toy...she really liked it.

Anna with her new Dora and Boots loofahs from Grandma.

Caleb with his Bakugan toys from Grandma.

Nathan cheesin' it up with his new Star Wars Legos toy. He's not typically the most determined of kids, but I was so proud of him when he decided to put the set together....he kept at it, even through some frustration, until it was built.

The aftermath!

Christmas morning breakfast....homemade cinnamon rolls! I've never made them before, but recipes like this, that require many minutes of kneading, are SO much easier and more appealing now that I get to use my Christmas present, a Kitchenaid mixer from my wonderful husband, to make them! And oh man, they were goooood!

Here we are walking in to the nursing home in our town. Our small group decided to do an extra little outreach besides the one our church was doing....we made bags with goodies like a mug, hot chocolate, cookies, an ornament, bookmark, etc. and delivered them to people who had to work on Christmas Eve or Day. Well, we wanted to take them to either the fire or police station, but neither were open to visitors, so we changed the plan a little and took them to the local nursing home. Instead of giving them out to the ones having to work on Christmas Day, we asked which residents wouldn't be getting any visitors and gave the presents to them instead. It was such a blessing to us and I'm very proud of my children. Very elderly people who are very weak and confined to their beds is definitely not something my children are used to seeing, but they didn't say anything about it and though they were quiet (except for Nathan of course), they easily and cheerfully wished everyone a "Merry Christmas." Aron prayed for each of the people we visited and we've already decided that we will definitely do this again next year, but with more presents next time.

And finally, Christmas dinner. Definitely not traditional....oxtail stew over rice with a salad. Aron has greatly missed all the yummy spanish food available in Florida, especially the Cuban food. Apparently he talks about it on a very regular basis at work, so much so that at his work Christmas party, his boss, who'd picked his name for the gift exchange, gave him a Cuban cookbook! Hence, our Cuban Christmas dinner. I never thought I'd eat the tail of something, but it was actually very good. I still would prefer dinner with all of our family and I missed all the traditional Christmas food, but this was really good too. All in all, it was a really good day, just us. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Nathan's Football Party

For Nathan's 7th birthday, he decided he wanted to have a sleepover and then a party with a theme of , go figure, football. Since he was born on December 20th, we chose to have his party on the 19th since it was a Saturday, and because it just-so-happened to be the date of our town's Christmas Parade which would be the grand finale to our party. Nathan chose to have his good buddy, Colin, spend the night on Friday night. It was Nathan's, Caleb's, and Colin's first sleepover and they had so much fun.

Here are the three boys hanging out in the boys' room.

All three boys in Nathan's bed...too cute!

Caleb playing in the Paper Football Championship. Aron had all kinds of outdoor football games to play with the kids, but it unfortunately rained the whole time, which also cancelled the parade. Thank goodness Aron is good at improvising, hence the paper football games instead!

Here's Nathan being a ham while Aron keeps track of the tournament.




Time to open gifts!

Excited about his new book sent all the way from Florida from Grandma!

His favorite present of all....a Panther's jersey!

Nathan's birthday cake....it's not the best one I've made, but Nathan was happy with it.

Happy Birthday Nate!

The Face of Libbie

Isn't she cute?! The unfortunate thing about taking pictures of my beautiful girl is that my camera puts off this really annoying red light and so even if she was smiling seconds before I push the button, as soon as she sees the light, her blue eyes get big and wide and the smile goes away. :( But here you go, anyway....enjoy!



She's mostly sitting up without support, but we use the boppy pillow just in case.




Here she is with big brother Caleb, both in their adorable footie jammies.




Those silly boys put their soldier hat on their baby sister!




Eating some of Mama's sweet potato...and loving it!



Cutie pie!

Seven!!!

On December 19th, 2002, while at work finishing up report cards with my team, my water broke. I carefully drove home, called Aron and then my midwife, took a shower and when Aron got home from work, headed to the hospital. I was planning on having an all-natural birth, but after about 10 hours of labor, decided an epidural sounded really nice and it allowed me to rest on and off for the next 5 hours. Then it was time and about an hour later, our lives were forever changed with the words, "It's a boy!" Nathaniel Aron Rice was born on December 20th, 2002 and has blessed our lives every day since.

He's such a great son and he's constantly reminding us that he is definitely his father's son. He is so much like Aron, it's crazy! In fact, he even told me the other day, "Daddy's really crazy, but I'm catching up!" He loves to goof-off, gets easily unfocused, but also well understands what needs to be done and is proud of himself when he does it. He LOVES football and is quite obsessed actually. He's very athletic, naturally it seems, and loves playing outside, even if he has to do it alone.

He has an amazing memory and already has his life planned out, although some of the details change on a regular basis, such as where he's going to live. However, some of the details, such as who his wife is going to be and how many kids he's going to have, have stayed the same, no matter how many times we ask him about it (by the way, he's going to marry McCayla and have 5 kids, 2 of whom will for sure be named Jack and Jake :)).

He is a great big brother and is fine with the added responsibilities we've given him as the oldest, such as making sure Anna's buckled when we get into the car. He has a very tender heart and often tears up when thinking about sad things or when watching shows with me, like "Extreme Home Makeover."

We are so very proud to be his parents and our family is blessed to have Nathan a part of it. It is no question that our family is great, but not because of us parents but because our firstborn 'gets it' and sets the stage for the rest of his siblings. We love you NATHANIEL ARON RICE!

Anna Turns 3!!!

Three years ago, on November 24th, I was induced since Anna decided she didn't want to be born on the 19th and share Daddy's birthday, and we were all so surprised when she came out our biggest baby by almost 2 pounds, weighing in at 9 lbs. 6 oz.! We've been steadily falling more in love with her every day since then.

Anna's first birthday.

Anna's second birthday.


Anna's third birthday.

Anna is so sweet and yet at times, very mischievous and strong-willed. She can melt our hearts with one look and can annoy us with her stubbornness. She is definitely a girly-girl who loves to have her toenails painted and wear pretty dresses, but who can also pick up a toy gun or sword and hold her own with the boys. She is the perfect mix for our family and we are so blessed to be able to be her parents! We love you Anna!